Mick Neil (born 29 April 1964) is an Australian former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played as a or for Western Suburbs, Balmain and Illawarra in the 1980s and 1990s.

Career

Neil made his first grade debut in the 1983 season for Western Suburbs. In 1987, Neil joined Balmain and played in consecutive losing grand finals for the club in 1988 and 1989. In the 1989 grand final, Neil was ankle tapped by Canberra player

Mal Meninga Malcolm Norman Meninga (; born 8 July 1960) is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Australian national team and a former professional rugby league footballer. Meninga is widely regarded as one of the fin ...

when he looked certain to score what would have been the match winning try for Balmain. Balmain went on to lose the match in what has been described by many as one of the greatest rugby league grand finals of all time. In 1992, Neil joined Illawarra and was part of the side which made it all the way to the preliminary final but lost 4–0 to St George. In 1994, Neil rejoined Balmain and was part of the side which collected the wooden spoon that year. At the end of 1994, Neil retired from rugby league.

References

1964 births Living people Australian rugby league players Balmain Tigers players Rugby league halfbacks Illawarra Steelers players Rugby league players from Sydney Western Suburbs Magpies players {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1960s-stub